A. Overview

In this six-week program, a select group of high school students will join the larger Hadar Summer Beit Midrash in creating passionate and meaningful Jewish community during our summer session. Over the course of six weeks, students will learn, sing, daven, and spend Shabbat together. They will form close relationships based on openness and give-and-take with Jewish texts, their teachers, and each other. Students will emerge having formed a network of peers engaged in a quest for a Jewish life centered around Torah and mitzvot and having experienced a powerful example of a community living it.

Talmud Torah: Hadar creates a community of learning which includes seminars, havruta (paired learning), and individualized learning. Students are given the opportunity to use both traditional and modern academic methods to translate their learning into contemporary religious meaning and obligation. High School students will join the rest of the Yeshiva in studying a perek of gemara in depth, with a focus on building gemara skills, while not losing sight of the values that undergird the text and how these values can inform our religious sensibilities. In addition to gemara, students will be encouraged to improve their skills in Tanakh, mahshavah, halakhah, and other texts through a combination of shiurim and supported independent learning.

Hesed: In order to plant the seeds for a culture of communal service, students will make regular visits to the Jewish Home Lifecare on the Upper West Side. They will appreciate that an integral aspect of community is to look beyond oneself and one’s immediate surrounding to care for and offer of themselves to those most in need of compassion and dignity.

Tefilah: Hadar’s schedule features davening three times a day in our Beit Midrash. Tefilot are egalitarian and employ the traditional liturgy. Students will have the opportunity to join this vibrant prayer community.

Sihot: Students will participate in group religious conversations (sihot), where faculty members will lead discussions of relevant questions of the day. Students will also have the opportunity to process their experience through small reflection groups, led by the program coordinators.

Informal Programming: During the program, students will be able to experience what makes New York City great in the summer. Each week, the group will have a chance to participate in outdoor activities, musical and theatre performances, tour some of the city’s famous neighborhoods, organizations, and more!

B. Program Details

Dates and Schedule: The 2019 dates will be announced in early 2019. The Young Leaders Fellowship ran from June 25-August 5, 2017. The schedule is all-encompassing, running from morning until 7:00 pm.

Shabbatot: The Young Leaders Fellowship will have 2 Shabbatonim over the course of the summer. Other Shabbatot are free, though high school students will have the option of being set up with families in the New York area to experience the wide array of Jewish life New York City has to offer.

Housing: For students who do not have access to acommodations near Hadar, we provide dormitory housing in which students will live with other members of the program and a Hadar staff person, all of the same gender. Housing can be provided at an additional cost of $2,000 for the summer.

Cost: Tuition for the Hadar Young Leaders Fellowship program is $2,500. This rate covers tuition for all classes, extra-curricular programming and three meals a day during the week.

RavSaK discount: We are proud to be collaborating with RavSak to offer a 20% discount on any RavSak student's tuition.

Scholarships: Scholarships are available for those who need financial assistance. Please be in touch with weintraub@hadar.org with questions.

C. Student Qualifications and Application Process

Type of Student: We are looking for students completing sophomore, junior and senior years (graduating 2019-2021) who are mature and highly motivated, who are excited to immerse themselves intensively in Jewish text in an environment devoted to shemirat mitzvot, Tefillah and Talmud Torah, both with other high school students and with students who are at different stages of life. Students should also be able to reflect thoughtfully about their Jewish lives.

Application Process: Admission to the high school program is made on a rolling basis. Interested students should complete an application form once it is available. Students will then be invited to schedule an interview with the directors of the program.